The field of the invention is wheelbarrows and the invention more specifically relates to wheelbarrows of the type which can be caused to dump while the wheel and legs of the wheelbarrow are maintained on the ground.
Various means have been known for emptying the contents of wheelbarrows and although the standard wheelbarrow is not equipped with any separate dumping ability, several wheelbarrows have been designed and used which have this capability. Among such wheelbarrows are those shown in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,092,418; 2,973,224; 2,852,304; 2,554,505; 2,037,222; 1,063,112 and 726,931. Such past attempts have not been successful for a variety of reasons.
The ability of a wheelbarrow to dump while the legs are maintained on the ground provides a very important advantage to the user particularly for heavy duty use. In spite of modern technology such as concrete pumps, wheelbarrows are still widely used in construction. It is often not practical to convey the concrete or other load to the needed area by a trough or by a concrete pump.
It is possible to carry between 200 to 300 pounds of concrete in a typical commercial wheelbarrow. While a workman can readily roll a wheelbarrow with this weight of contents, when it becomes necessary to dump the wheelbarrow, it is difficult to raise the handles to a height sufficient to cause the dumping. This raising particularly when often repeated can lead to back injuries, muscle strain and the like. With the discomfort to the worker and the ever increased cost of health care, every effort should be taken to reduce such injuries, and it is for this purpose that the present invention is designed.
Another problem is the shifting of some loads such as wet concrete during dumping which can result in spilling. Another disadvantage of most conventional wheelbarrows is that it is not possible or practical to watch the dumping of the contents from the position behind the barrow handles because the barrow itself is necessarily between the line of vision and the point at which the barrow contents are being dumped. While the above discussion emphasizes the use of the wheelbarrow of the present invention with wet concrete, other loads are, of course, contemplated.